John Burton faces sexual harassment suit

SAN FRANCISCO Ex-politician did more than use salty language, suit says

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 24, 2008

Photo: Lance Iversen

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State Senate President Pro Tem leader John Burton from San Francisco reflects on his 35-year career as he and his staff clears out his capital office. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle Ran on: 12-01-2004
Senate President Pro Tem John Burton bids farewell to an unidentified woman as he strolls down a Capitol hallway. Ran on: 12-01-2004
Senate President Pro Tem John Burton bids farewell to an unidentified woman as he strolls down a Capitol hallway. less

BURTON_048.jpg_
State Senate President Pro Tem leader John Burton from San Francisco reflects on his 35-year career as he and his staff clears out his capital office. By Lance Iversen/San Francisco Chronicle ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

John Burton faces sexual harassment suit

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Former state Senate leader John Burton was sued Wednesday for $10 million by the executive director of his San Francisco charitable foundation, who claims he sexually harassed her by swearing at her and making lewd and suggestive comments on an almost daily basis.

Burton's attorney called the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, a "shakedown" and predicted that Burton's "character and reputation will win out at the end of the day."

During a 35-year legislative career in which he rose to become California's second-most-powerful politician, Burton became well known for his mouth. A 2004 Chronicle article about the ex-bartender described him as "visceral, irascible, occasionally avuncular and routinely profane."

Kathleen Driscoll, a 48-year-old San Francisco resident now on stress-related medical leave from the John Burton Foundation, said in her lawsuit that Burton used more than salty language.

Driscoll said the former Democratic lawmaker repeatedly remarked on her choice of underwear and the appearance of her breasts, often mimicked masturbation in her presence and told her on roughly 20 occasions, "I had a dream about you last night," while raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

At a news conference Wednesday, Driscoll's attorney played a recorded voice message in which a man she identified as Burton told Driscoll, "When you drop stuff off, I mean, stop in, will you? I'm not getting laid under the f- table."

Driscoll said she had filed suit after unsuccessfully complaining about Burton's behavior to the 75-year-old former lawmaker himself and to the foundation's personnel department.

"My whole life has been turned around, and I did nothing wrong," Driscoll said. "He bullied me and sexually harassed me. It's scary because he's powerful, and he told me that every day."

Burton's attorney, Susan Rubenstein, said that the allegations were false and that Burton, who left the state Legislature in 2005 because of term limits, had never before been accused of sexual harassment.

"This is a man who spent nearly a half century of his life in public service," Rubenstein said. "If he was a sexual harasser or a sexual predator, I think the press would have discovered that by now."

Several friends and former colleagues of Burton jumped to his defense, including state Democratic Party chairman Art Torres, who called Burton a champion of women's rights.

"Anybody who used that colorful language for 45 years - I just can't imagine anyone would take him seriously," Torres said. "That's what he's like. He's old-school, and he means nothing by it."

Driscoll said she had previously worked as a donor relations officer at the San Francisco Foundation and as a director of development at UCSF. She said she has 12 years of experience with charities.

According to her complaint, Burton hired her as executive director in August 2006 and began to harass her the next month. Armstrong said the alleged abuse escalated and was not a "quid pro quo situation" in which demotion or promotion were at stake, but "more of a hostile work environment."

Among other complaints, Driscoll said Burton took her to a movie after asking her to meet him to work on the weekend; told her she was "probably wild sexually like all Catholic girls"; and introduced Driscoll to business associates as a "thong model."

Burton founded the John Burton Foundation for Children Without Homes in 2004 and is now its chairman. The charity is "dedicated to improving the quality of life for California's homeless children and developing policy solutions to prevent homelessness," according to its Web site.

Burton was elected to the state Assembly in 1964 and to the U.S. House of Representatives a decade later. In 1982, he left Congress because of a cocaine addiction that he later overcame.

He returned to the Assembly in 1988 and was elected to the state Senate in 1996. Two years later, he was unanimously elected as the Senate's president pro tem.